let the partners see that you mean business.
by martin bissett
passport to partnership
rising from senior manager to partner often means being promoted ahead of our peers and contemporaries. it creates a gap in earnings, stature and influence compared to those who were our colleagues on a level playing field just yesterday.
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it can also mean that if we are coming into a firm from the outside, we are being promoted over people who have served at that firm for many years and understand the firm’s culture much better than we do now. we may have to lead these people as the head of a department and if so, they’d better be on our side.
this is where the principle of commitment is applied.
the partners interviewed in this study commented that they were looking for “someone with no sense of ego or self-importance, someone who could relate equally as effectively with a client, a partner or an administrative assistant.”
they wanted someone to whom other employees could look with respect as an expert, a role model and someone with a proven track record that justified their appointment.
commitment does not relate to their relationship with existing or new clients but, specifically, how they conduct themselves behind closed doors at their firm – both now as a senior manager and then as a new partner. the partners applaud an increase in maturity; an increase in arrogance is not.
one partner i interviewed summarized by saying, “when you are promoted to partner, you think you’ve reached the pinnacle. the truth is that you’re actually only on the lower slopes and the hard work and steepest learning curve are still ahead of you.”
climbing that new slope takes commitment.
how commitment trumps professionalism
this “learning curve” that you’ll have to go through on an extended basis in your first years as a partner ensures one thing – you’re going to make mistakes. many of these mistakes will be in demonstrating a lack of professionalism as you come to terms with the level of conduct required at the partner level.
as long as they are neither prolonged nor oft-repeated, these slip-ups will be forgiven quickly by the partners if you demonstrate a commitment to the firm and consistently improve. (they made these same errors once too!)
here are 13 decisions you can make at any time that ensure you commit to committing:
1. who cares, wins!
if nothing else, demonstrate that the sweat and sacrifice the firm’s ownership has put into getting it where it is today is not lost on you. become a historian about your firm’s journey and, whether dealing with the partners, your team, your clients or your prospective clients, be authentic–because who cares, wins.
2. agree to learn and be coached.
you may have an incredible skill set, experience and exam scores that are one of a kind, but you don’t have perfection as a professional, so you need to make perpetual improvement, like we all do. there will be those within your firm who can offer insight and expertise that you don’t have. since success is a journey rather than a destination, we can demonstrate that teachable attitude by learning from anyone who has value to add to our knowledge and an experience base of life in a professional service firm.
3. agree to teamwork.
one sobering fact about leadership is that leaders are rarely responsible for the successes of their firm but always accountable for its failures. your team can offer tremendous value. benefit from that and repay your team by providing credit where it’s due.
4. agree to two-way investment.
you want the firm to develop you. you want them to pay you. you want them to offer you profit shares, bonuses, incentives, new opportunities and so on.
why should they?
it’s unlikely that you represent their only option to progress their firm. they are taking a calculated risk with you. receiving all of the perks of partnership in exchange for doing a good job just isn’t good enough.
the partners want to know
- that you’ll sweat for this firm;
- that you won’t start looking for something elsewhere when times get tough; and
- that they can entrust client relationships to you that have been built over decades.
they want to know that you’ll give everything you’ve got for the sustained prosperity of this firm day in day out, week in week out, month in month out, year in year out.
how can you demonstrate that level of commitment? what will you invest – in emotional and tangible terms – to show that you are worthy of all the time, effort and trust that the partners will place in you?
this is a two-way investment.
5. agree to acquire and develop wisdom.
as we develop any knowledge on a specific topic, we go from not knowing what we are talking about to thinking that we do to eventually actually knowing our subject.
that’s fine for technical topics but leadership and business direction require wisdom distilled from your own career, the experiences of those around you and those who have gone before you.
tapping into this wisdom is an investment that pays rich returns. your commitment to the firm’s cause will also be noted as you go the extra mile to seek it out.
6. live the principle of “sacred funds.”
there’s that old saying about it being much easier to spend someone else’s money than our own.
as a future leader of a professional service firm, the potential partner must understand that the firm’s funds not only pay the direct costs and overheads that the firm incurs to deliver its service, but it also meets the payroll. in other words, those funds pay for mortgages, vehicles, food and heat of however many people your firm employs at a given time.
furthermore, these funds are the fruits of the efforts of the existing partners over an extended period. they must be treated with the respect they deserve and the reverence for what they provide.
if you get the checkbook, the credit card or some other authorization to spend the organization’s money, treat it as you would your own….or better.
7. take your team with you.
your passage to partnership may occur at the expense of or ahead of someone else’s. this is a delicate political situation to navigate for the new partner. therefore, demonstrate to your colleagues that nothing has changed and that there is no ego as a result of your pending or confirmed promotion.
rather, strive in natural ways to increase your service and support them and their careers. that’s what a leader would do.
8. take your clients with you.
again, this requires little more explanation than is contained in point 7. the fact that you will be or have been made a partner changes nothing except the increased expectations that those who work with you are entitled to have of you.
9. respect resources as a communal means.
if your firm has a booking policy for meeting rooms, you don’t overrule it. if your firm has a policy for distributing human resources to work on client matters, you don’t circumnavigate the existing lines of authorization. respect everyone’s right to use the same resources as you and resist the temptation to pull rank when you didn’t follow the correct protocol.
10. employ perpetual relationship building.
this goes for your relationships with:
- your partners
- your team
- your clients
- your intermediaries
- your introducers
- your direct reports
increasingly, people will look to you to set the standard on the quality of relationships your firm is known for, both externally and internally. what are they going to see when they look to you?
11. develop expert intolerance.
as a partner, time will evaporate as your list of responsibilities and deadlines increases. in the past, your colleagues will have felt no hesitation in entering your office for a chat about the game last night or the movie on tv. they will not appreciate the pressure that you are now under. you, however, need to shut off from everyone at times to ensure that you produce quality work for your firm and your clients. you need to let them know this without them feeling offended. find a word, a look, a sign or something else that ensures people leave you alone when they need to.
12. make continual deposits in the goodwill account.
you’ll often require your team to go the extra mile for you, stay late, work extra hard, and maybe even correct your mistakes. apart from it not requiring a reason to be classed as “best practice,” if nothing else, it is wise to have a team willing to carry out the above tasks for you when required. they’ll answer the call if they feel a tremendous amount of goodwill toward you. you’ll achieve this if your commitment to them is unfailing in between times.
13. demonstrate sincere powerful passion.
hopefully, this is why you tried so hard to reach the top in the first place.
- you want to be the expert;
- you want to help your clients achieve their goals; and
- you want to assist in developing the next generation of leaders in your firm.
whatever the motive, your passion for building the firm will become contagious – not just within your team members but with the partners and the broader firm as a whole.
you can decide to follow the profession’s traditions and fall into line or commit to being truly committed and take the performance and achievements of your firm to a whole new level.